Accutane in the News

Researchers at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill have found that using Accutane increased the risk of developing ulcerative colitis by four. They looked at data from 87 health insurance plans and discovered roughly 8,200 patients diagnosed with IBD, or inflammatory bowel disease. IBD represents a group of disorders of the digestive track, including ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. Researchers also discovered that the risk of developing a bowel disorder increased in relation to the dosage size of Accutane.

"'This drug is awful, and the warnings were inadequate. [Roche] warned about things like pregnancy and those problems, but everything else they really ignored,' said Christopher Seeger of New York's Seeger Weiss, one of four plaintiffs' firms that is handling the scores of Accutane lawsuits. The others are Hook Bolton, Beggs & Lane, and Levin Papantonio — all in Pensacola, Fla."

"David Buchanan of Seeger Weiss in New York, one of the plaintiffs lawyers, says the reversal disappointed him at the time, but he was buoyed by the affirmance of Higbee's other rulings. As a result, he says, the appeals court 'provided a blueprint that will be useful in other trials.'

Buchanan says it is impossible to say for certain why the second jury returned so magnified a verdict after hearing the defense evidence the judge excluded at the first trial.

Two possible explanations: First, the first jury's damage finding was lower than it should have been. 'McCarrell's case is one of the most serious,' he says. Second, the experience of the first trial has improved the plaintiffs lawyers' presentations. 'We're getting better,' he says.

Buchanan says Tuesday's verdict should send a message to the company that a settlement of pending cases would be wise. "I would hope they would acknowledge what the juries are telling them. I am hoping the message is heard."

"The nine-member jury found that Roche failed to provide an adequate warning to McCarrell's prescribing physician about the risks of inflammatory bowel disease from Accutane and that that failure to warn was a 'proximate cause' of McCarrell's IBD, according to McCarrell's lawyers."

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